WELL Fund investment to create scaling opportunities for women entrepreneurs in high-growth femtech sector
Hamilton & Halton, ON – July 10, 2026 – The Government of Ontario is advancing women’s health and entrepreneurship with the announcement today of new investment in wHealth Ignite, an Innovation Factory (IF) program dedicated to women’s health innovation delivered by Femtech Canada.
The new funding comes through Ontario Women’s Economic Leadership and Legacy (WELL) Fund, which supports projects that address barriers experienced by women who want to remain and advance in high-growth sectors such as the health-tech industry.
“Ontario is proud to support Canada’s first milestone-driven program dedicated to women’s health innovation,” said Michael Parsa, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. “Through the WELL Fund, we are investing up to $5.5 million this year in new or expanded initiatives across Ontario focused on creating more opportunities for women and gender diverse people to drive economic growth in key sectors. wHealth Ignite will make a measurable difference by increasing the retention, promotion and leadership of women in the women’s health innovation sector, which is projected to contribute $27 billion to Canada’s GDP by 2040.”
Delivered by Femtech Canada in partnership with Spring and Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship at Western University and supported by the Google for Startups Cloud Program, wHealth Ignite is a milestone-driven program that supports high-potential, seed-stage femtech ventures to de-risk their path to market and accelerate their efforts to attract investors.
Starting this summer, wHealth Ignite will provide the first cohort of 10 Ontario-based founders with:
- Expert consulting: access to consultants in artificial intelligence, intellectual property, clinical validation and commercialization
- Investor feedback: milestone reviews from a panel of investors
- National exposure: innovations will be showcased for industry leaders at the Kickoff Event and the Femtech Canada Forum in Toronto (November 2026).
- Strategic capital: advice from investment experts and the opportunity to secure up to $100,000 in equity investment from Spring
- Technology: Streamlined onboarding for the Google for Startups Cloud Program, which provides credits and mentorship to help startups build with Google Cloud AI.
“Innovation Factory and our partners at Femtech Canada are tremendously grateful for this investment from the WELL Fund,” said David Carter, Innovation Factory’s CEO. “For too long, women’s health has been neglected in medical research, and tech start-ups often overlook it as a key component of creating safe, welcoming workplaces.
“At the same time, women’s health innovation represents one of Canada’s most promising opportunities for economic growth. With this funding, wHealth Ignite will be able to provide femtech founders with the tools they need to bring their solutions to market and fuel growth in this sector across Ontario.”
Expert consultants from Spring and Google will act as advisors, champions and super-connectors for Ignite participants, helping them hit precise commercialization milestones and build the “proof points” investors demand.
“The data is clear: only 7% of health research funding is directed specifically at women’s health. The femtech sector exists to close that gap, and it’s attracting serious attention from entrepreneurs who see both the need and the opportunity. What it needs now is more investors at the table. Through wHealth Ignite, Spring is helping founders raise capital while building a community of investors eager to engage in this overlooked market opportunity. Together, we’ll show how connecting these two in a meaningful way is how real capital starts to drive progress.”
– Caroline von Hirschberg, Co-CEO, Spring
“This partnership will help put more resources in the hands of Canadian startups through the Google for Startups Cloud Program, including credits, mentorship, and go to market support that will help startups build innovative products and bring them to market,” said Kathryn Van Nuys, Director of Global Venture Capital and Startup Investor Ecosystem at Google Cloud.
“Nothing drives innovation and change like entrepreneurship, and we are excited to partner in this initiative that will provide founders the tools, resources, and mentorship to advance women’s health,” said Eric Morse, Executive Director of the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship Powered by Ivey.
About Femtech Canada
Femtech Canada is a national network dedicated to advancing women’s health technology by connecting femtech companies with essential resources and visibility. Through strategic networking, business advisory support, mentorship and a dynamic online community, Femtech Canada inspires entrepreneurs and researchers to pioneer technologies that improve the lives of women and end-users across the country. Operated by Innovation Factory, Femtech Canada is committed to fostering intentional, intersectional, and inclusive growth in the sector by advocating to close the longstanding gaps in women’s health—a field historically under-served, under-researched, and under-funded.
About Innovation Factory
Innovation Factory is a not-for-profit business accelerator serving the Brant, Halton, Hamilton and Norfolk regions since 2010 and is dedicated to growing the regional economy by accelerating start-up and scale-up companies. Innovation Factory provides innovators with business services, training, mentorship, and strategic connections to resources, opportunities and world-class institutions — driving market adoption, leveraging intellectual property, and increasing revenues, investment, and jobs. Innovators can also access sector-specific resources, including exclusive smart transportation test environments and data, and a formal life science and health innovation ecosystem.
About Spring
Spring is a trusted leader in Canada’s impact innovation ecosystem. We support founders building solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges, while activating investors seeking impactful investment opportunities. The foundation of our work is supporting innovators building revenue and jobs through solutions that have an intentional, measurable positive impact across industries and business models. Through training and community building, Spring equips both founders and investors with the knowledge, networks, and capital pathways needed to scale. This two-sided approach nurtures more resilient, innovative, and scalable businesses positioned to deliver long-term economic and societal impact.